A conventional remote control apparatus for marine engines is illustrated diagrammaatically in FIG. 1 of the drawings. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 indicates a bridge area of a vessel, numeral 2 indicates a main control room area, a numeral 3 indicates an engine room.
The apparatus, as shown in FIG. 1, comprises an auxiliary controller 4 located on the bridge 1 and having an operator's handle 5 which may be operated to a selected position for setting the direction and speed of an engine 6. Controller 4 then emits, for example, an electrical control signal which is transmitted via a conductor 7 to a relay circuit 8 in control room 2. From relay circuit 8, the electrical control signal is transmitted via a conductor 9 to an electric-hydraulic transducer 10 which converts the electric signal to a hydraulic control signal.
The hydraulic signal from transducer 10 is transmitted via a pipe 11 to a control circuit 12 whence a further control signal is transmitted via a pipe 13 to an engine control device 14 for effecting starting or stopping, direction of rotation, or speed of engine 6, depending upon the characteristic of the control signal received by said engine control device.
In some instances, the control signal from controller 4 may be a hydraulic signal, in which case said hydraulic signal is transmitted directly to control circuit 12.
A main controller 15 is located in control room 2. When main controller 15 is used for controlling operation of engine 6, the control signal, which normally is a hydraulic signal, emitted from said main controller, is transmitted via a pipe 16 to control circuit 12, which operates in the fashion above described to effect the desired engine operation. Should the main controller 15 be of the type emitting an electrical signal, such signal would first be transmitted to transducer 10 for conversion to a hydraulic signal which would then follow the course as above described.
With the use of the aforementioned conventional remote control apparatus, at such time that control of engine 6 is being effected by auxiliary controller 4 and it is desired to switch such control to the main controller 15, said main controller must first be set to a position corresponding to that of the auxiliary controller or at the engine direction and speed prevailing at the time the switch-over is made. Thus, such transition or switch-over may be accomplished smoothly and without possible damage to the apparatus, which could occur if the two controllers are not synchronized. Since the conventional remote control apparatus above described does not provide for automatic synchronization of the main controller 15 with the auxiliary controller 8, some means such as dials or voice communication must be used for apprising the operator in control room 2 of the prevailing engine conditions at the time he sets said main controller to correspond thereto. This procedure, of course, necessitates some loss of time and may also result in error due to misreading of the dials or misunderstanding of the voice communication.